Monday, August 14, 2006

Some people have asked me why I go by the name that I do when I write. I could say "I just like the ring of it," but then I would not be doing justice to a few stories behind that.

First of all, I am named after my Great-Grandfather, Lawrence Patrick M. He was a tall man with a pretty warped sense of humor who usually went by "Pat". When people would ask him his name, he would say, "Lawrence John Patrick Aloisius M." Cute, huh? So when I was born, my father was determined to name me: Scott John Patrick M. I would have been very happy with that, but mom didn't want me to have to deal with the wrath of 2 middle names; she shortened it to Scott Patrick M. and so it was. I sometimes throw in the "John" whenever I'm in a mood. If I'm really in a mood, Scott John Patrick Aloisius shows up.

Secondly, when I was growing up, my mom's best friend's child was "Perry Scott" who went by "Scott", therefore, Mom and Sis always called me "Patrick" which was cool, because that reminded me of great grandpa. Mum would do the motherly thing of calling me by my first and middle name whenever I would get in trouble. I didn't hear that often, because I wasn't too terrible of a kid. Also, my sister still calls me "Patrick" to this day (she likes that name better), so I really can't let it go.

Starting with my freshman year of college, I had the typical experience of really trying to find out who I was. I didn't have a name that I could easily change to add a "y" for an "i" or knock off an superfluous "l". I suppose I could have added and umlaut or something, but then I would just look pretentious or like Euro-trash. So I just went back to the Scott John Patrick and dropped my last name whenever I would write anything.

Later in life, when I started on the internet, I tried to maintain my anonymity by just going by "Scott" to everyone I knew, and then moved on to just add my middle name as my last (mainly because email required a last name).

That brings me to today. I think that all things in life make us who we are at present, and my name is no exception. I keep my middle name on things I post due to my pride in my family name. I also think it gives me a sense of anonymity as well as give me an identity. And finally... I believe mom would shriek "Scott Patrick!!!" if she read half of this shit.